ShaggyRS6 Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 The latest state of play is thus.... I have submitted my FAC application as you know. I have got a fair amount of land lined up, as you know. then the bombshell of 6-8 months for Grants. So I wrote a nice letter, nothing confrontational explaining that in 6-8 months time i will have lost my permissions due to the length of time the application will take. I called yesterday to see if they had recieved the letter. They had. But they said because this was not my job it was very unlikely that the letter would make any difference to the length of time my application takes. I have left a message on my FLO's phone to ask what he advises I do. Other than that, I am really struggling with what I can do next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzyboi Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 I wouldnt have said that you had lost your permission, as its one less reason to own your firearm! your now going to have to join a respectable shooting club, they may ask you to do this anyway if you never had firearms before. They quoted me 6 months, i send mine off just before xmas, had my visit just after xmas, said to join a club and do a 3 month probation period down the range, so i did, i joined the other half of the club im already a member off and did 3 months down the range, think my FAC was issued around beginning of may time. The only thing you can do is phone them up every 3-4 weeks and ask too see how its going, but apart from that you just have to sit, and ride it out im afraid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 I wouldn't push them at all, unless its to do with your employment, there is no reason that you can give that will "fast track" your application. If you are really in danger of losing your permission, then I would find a friend (with a FAC) to take with you, just to establish your presence. I have just sent of my SGC renewal and the documents they sent mention a 2 month delay, but I am covered during the whole exercise. Its also interesting to note that Kent Police now have more FLO's than I can ever remember. The delays must be due to more extensive security checks, rather than a massive increase in th number of shooters being processed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 In your position I would contact the firearms department at BASC (provided you are a member), and explain the situation. 6 - 8 months does seem unacceptably protracted to me. I would initially be hesitant to fire off letters to the chief contable and my MP, but would not rule it out. In Britain firearms are a privelage which is granted, not a right which is administered. However the police do charge for their service. You therefore have a right to expect what you have paid for ina reasonable time scale. Given that many other forces can handle applications in less than half the time you have quoted, I dont feel that the service you are going to receive will be provided in a reasonable time scale. It may be worth asking the question if there is anything in particular with your application that is causing the delay. For instance referee working abroad and uncontactable etc. webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyRS6 Posted June 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 Thanks guys for the information and advise. Cranny, the reason they gave to me was that the had a new Computer System and therefore a huge backlog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 I don't think this needs to be pinned but it has been said many times on here and all the other forums, as already been stated - the delays are country wide and do to all SGC and FAC details being uploaded to the central computer system. The police that stop you at the roadside in future will know instanty if you have an SGC and/or FAC Cranfield is right, if it looks a bit iffy for your permission, get a friendly local FAC holder there to give you a hand in the meantime - young Nicholas is a fine upstanding member of the community :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 My view is that the delays are not vindictive, or discriminatory at all, everybody is waiting. They do have systems problems, they are extending the security checks, there are delays, and they are admitting these things. By all means anyone who is not prepared to wait can go and bang their head against a brick wall, but I can't see what good it will do them. If complaining and rattling cages would help, I would be the first one to suggest it, but on this occasion, I don't think it will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyRS6 Posted June 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 Yep ok. Some good thoughts. I will not persue any further. Just wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagsy Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 I'm still not clear about the cause of the delays, having recently submitted my SGC renewal I'm obviously interested in how long it is expected to take and am expecting the worst. However, the application was exactly the same, no additional security questions, there is no obvious change to the process and the formalities haven't changed so why so long? Surely it can't all be blamed on the new national database - what reason is being given, it shouldn't take long to enter an individuals details onto a computer. Are all FAC and SGC applications being dealt with locally then being sent away to a central issuing office who input the details and print the licences? Why should we have to simply accept a shoddy service which, after all, we are paying for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwr Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 I'm still not clear about the cause of the delays, having recently submitted my SGC renewal I'm obviously interested in how long it is expected to take and am expecting the worst. However, the application was exactly the same, no additional security questions, there is no obvious change to the process and the formalities haven't changed so why so long? Surely it can't all be blamed on the new national database - what reason is being given, it shouldn't take long to enter an individuals details onto a computer. Are all FAC and SGC applications being dealt with locally then being sent away to a central issuing office who input the details and print the licences? Why should we have to simply accept a shoddy service which, after all, we are paying for All the counties are party to the new central system so I see no reason why it should take 1 county only 1 month and another 6 months! In fact by definition of a central system if one is so 'snowed under ' maybe they should ask a neighbouring one to help? Luckily for me, mine took 4 weeks(may2007),which was less than the 6 weeks promised, the reason for the delay being the new system, blowed if I can see 6 months being justified. the fact that my two referee's were FAC holders and I have plenty of land may have helped but I would offer you my case as a reason to enquire why it is taken them so long. If they are 'snowed under why don't they pass it to a neighbouring force who can by definition use the central system to check and then retun it for issue. Be polite and make a nuisance of yourself ,you are, as has been said, paying their wages.( by nuisance I mean politely enquire every 2 weeks if you can help) bloody annoying good luck H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwr Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Dear Cranfield I don't agree that a new system is acceptable reason for a shoddy service. 6 months is ridiculous and it is them not us that commissioned a new central system so the delay is down to them not us the customer. A little bit of follow up phone calling won't hurt , as long as its cheerful and polite. again 6 months!!!! ridiculous H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunganick Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 unfortunatly mate you suffer from........ living in kent, this is how long things take here unfortunatly. Took 9 months for my coterminus to come through. Worth every second of waiting though. give me a PM with some dates you can catch up as im now offically free BTW, the reasons for the delay, it is my understanding that kent is the largest county? or one of at least, it however has a very poor depleted firearms dept. Most of the dept. is learning on the job, (you will have to suffer this, i certainly did) and new computer system or not, there just isnt the man power in kent to deal with the large shooting population. They FLO do their best, but in my experiance the service of kent firearms dept. is poor to non existant, i might be biased as they have tried to pull some seriously out of order stunts on me. However this gave me some leverage on them and i became apparently the youngest open cert. holder in kent and sussex (at the time). the waiting times have gone down as i put in a variation that took a mere 2 months :look: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Dear Cranfield I don't agree that a new system is acceptable reason for a shoddy service. 6 months is ridiculous and it is them not us that commissioned a new central system so the delay is down to them not us the customer. A little bit of follow up phone calling won't hurt , as long as its cheerful and polite. again 6 months!!!! ridiculous H I am sure you have read the whole thread, in which case you will have seen that I was not suggesting that 6 months is satisfactory. My stance has been that there is little point in hammering on the FLO's door, because there is little to no chance of the applicant getting any preferential treatment for doing so. If the applicant was being singled out and delayed for no specific reason, thats a different matter, but they are not. If they are left alone, they may well catch up the backlog quicker. There are now more FLO's in the Kent Firearms Dept, than I can ever remember there being. They may be learning on the job, but at least something positive is happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rabo Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 The latest state of play is thus.... I have submitted my FAC application as you know. I have got a fair amount of land lined up, as you know. then the bombshell of 6-8 months for Grants. So I wrote a nice letter, nothing confrontational explaining that in 6-8 months time i will have lost my permissions due to the length of time the application will take. when i contacted the CAI about my FAC,i said that a couple of the farmers i shoot for were gettin impatient, that there were fox's running about and know one shooting them,i was worried that they would get someone else in instead of me.i don't know if that was passed on to the PSNI.the CAI did speed it up for me i know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony9r Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Yep ok. Some good thoughts. I will not persue any further. Just wait. Best way mate... as Cranners already pointed out, they don't take too kindly to "pestering" as I was told by my FLO the day she delivered my FAC :look: - I'd only phoned twice in 9 weeks and got a rollocking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 over here a 6 month wait is considered normal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyboots Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 over here a 6 month wait is considered normal aye dazza a joke over here, had the FEO out this week about the rifle(8weeks now) he said id have word in the next 4 weeks i wont be counting on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyRS6 Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Some good news. My FLO called me is morning. I advised him that I had sent a letter to the office and asked him to apologise on my behalf for chasing them up. I explained that I had called the office twice and each time I was told 6-8 months. He advised me that I had been misinformed and that my application would be with him in 2 weeks meeting their current waiting time of 6 – 8 weeks. Happy days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naddan28 Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Some good news. My FLO called me is morning. I advised him that I had sent a letter to the office and asked him to apologise on my behalf for chasing them up. I explained that I had called the office twice and each time I was told 6-8 months. He advised me that I had been misinformed and that my application would be with him in 2 weeks meeting their current waiting time of 6 – 8 weeks. Happy days. Indeed happy days! I told the missus may holiday before buying guns as 6-8months was so far away, now no chance! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwr Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Apologies Cranfield I wasn't having a go, guess we are spoilt in Northants (it took about 6 weeks and they were very apologetic about it,) and my condolences to the lads in NI too Great to hear some good news though Cupraman 8 months to 2 weeks bit of a result! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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